The present invention relates to structures for removably securing a container to a substantially planar supporting surface. In particular, the present invention relates to structures which permit the placement and removal of a container, or other item having width, depth, and thickness, to a supporting surface in such a manner that the structure is retained in a position which is out of sight until such time as the container or other item having width, depth, and thickness, is to be removed from its supporting surface.
People have always wanted to mount objects to supporting surfaces. Typically, such mounting of objects to supporting surfaces is, for example, hanging paintings on walls, placing calendars or posters or the like on a wall, putting clocks and decorative items in place, and so on. Sometimes this is accomplished by driving nails or screws into the wall, or by the use of adhesive tape, and so on. Indeed, there is a myriad of different ways of hanging or securing items in place on a supporting surface.
However, there are some supporting surfaces which, for a variety of reasons, do not invite or permit items to be secured to them. Mirrors and glass windows are such an example, as well as relatively thin structures such as medicine cabinet doors and the like where it is impossible to place a nail or screw due to the lack of material to grasp the nail or screw to hold it in place. Of course, except carefully and very skilfully, it is not possible to place a nail or screw through a glass structure such as a mirror or window.
Other means for securing items in place include adhesive and gummed tapes, hanging devices, and so on.
None of these devices, however, is deemed to be satisfactory in many instances, particularly instances where the item to be secured to a supporting surface is to be removably secured so it can be taken away at a later time.
For example, if nails or screws are used to secure any item to a wall, and the nail or screw is later removed, an unsightly hole may be left. Likewise, if a gummed or adhesive hanger is to be used, and later removed, it may take the paint with it.
Of course on glass or mirrors, and the like, the use of gummed or adhesive tapes may result in the gum or adhesive being left on the surface after the securing tape has been removed. Such circumstance is unsightly, and may require further treatment so as to remove the residue.
Several products have been introduced to the market, particularly by 3-M Company in association with the trade-mark COMMAND(trademark). The items which are being marketed are, in particular, plastic strips which are intended for placing posters on the wall, or hooks which may be removably secured to a wall, without damage to the wall in any event. However, when these adhesive strips or devices having adhesive strips are used, there always remains a removal tab which is grasped to stretch the tape and thereby de-laminate it from the supporting surface against which it has been placed. The adhesive strip may or may not be removable from the item to which it has been attached.
In any event, the removal tab which forms an integral part of the adhesive strips is unsightly. It is possible to secure a poster to a wall in such a manner that the adhesive strips are totally covered, but in that case there may be a tendency for the bottom edge of the poster to curl.
There may also be circumstances where it is desirable to place a container or other device which has width, depth, and thickness, in a manner such that it is removably secured to a substantially planar supporting surface. Such circumstances may, indeed, include the mounting of framed pictures, holders for writing or cooking utensils, magnifying mirrors for use when applying makeup or inserting or removing contact lenses, placing decorative items on windows or mirrors, or placing such items as dental floss dispensers on bathroom mirrors or on the back surface of a medicine cabinet door. In all of those instances, the item to be removably secured to a substantially planar supporting surface exhibits the characteristics of having width, depth, and thickness, and may be a container or other item as suggested above. In any event, the use of adhesive strips having the necessary characteristic that they permit removable securement to a substantially planar supporting surface, especially without damage to the supporting surface or without leaving a residue, is to be commended; but until now use of such adhesive strips may not necessarily be acceptable, due to the presence of an unsightly removal tab.
On the other hand, it is generally desirable that at least a small portion of the removal tab should be either visible or at least very easily accessible, so that when it is desired to remove the container or other item by de-adhering the plastic adhesive strip from the supporting surface, the removal tab and its intended purpose will be available and understandable to the user.
Until now, any advertising that is currently known in publications and is particularly on television which promotes the stretchable and removable adhesive plastic strips, has clearly indicated the evident and unsightly presence of the removal tab.
The present invention provides a structure for removal of a container or other item from a substantially planar supporting surface, in such a manner that the graspable removal tab is folded forwardly and generally out of sight from the substantially planar supporting surface to which the container or other item has been removably secured, by providing a means for retaining the graspable removal tab in a folded and generally out of sight condition which extends forwardly from a substantially planar back face of the container or item being removably secured to the substantially planar supporting surface.
An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide for such a structure as described immediately above, whereby the structure can be employed to secure a container or item to a substantially planar supporting surface by employing a flexible plastic tape, but retaining a graspable removal tab in a generally out of sight condition after the container or other item has been mounted in place.
To that end, therefore, the present invention provides a structure for removably securing a container or other item having width, depth, and thickness, to a substantially planar supporting surface in such a manner that a portion of the structure is retained in a position which is generally out of sight but from which that portion may be put into an operable position. Thus, the container or other item to be removably secured to a substantially planar supporting surface has a substantially planar back face which is to be placed adjacent a substantially planar supporting surface, and it has at least one substantially planar container thickness defining face which extends forwardly from the substantially planar back face.
The structure comprises a flexible plastic tape having an adhesive coating on at least a first portion of each of the first and second sides thereof, and having a second portion at a first end of each of the first and second sides where there is no adhesive coating adhered thereto.
The first side of the flexible plastic tape is adhered to the substantially planar back face of the container at the first portion of the tape. The second portion of the flexible plastic tape forms a graspable tab to facilitate removal of the container or other item from a planar supporting surface when it has been adhered thereto by the adhesive coating on the second side of the tape. De-adherence of the flexible plastic tape at least from the planar supporting surface is achieved by stretching the tape by grasping the graspable tab.
The structure in keeping with the present invention further comprises retaining means for the graspable tab.
The retaining means is located on the at least one substantially planar container thickness defining face, for releasably retaining the graspable tab in a folded and a generally out of sight condition extending forwardly from the substantially planar back face of the container or the other item.
For the sake of clarity, and so as to avoid ambiguity, use of the word xe2x80x9ccontainerxe2x80x9d herein is intended to relate to any item which has the characteristics of width, depth, and thickness, with at least a substantially planar back face and at least one substantially planar container thickness defining face which extends forwardly from the substantially back face.
In a particular embodiment of the present invention, the retaining means comprises a slot which is formed in the at least one substantially planar container thickness defining face for inserting the first end of the flexible plastic tape thereinto. The slot is parallel to the substantially planar back face of the container, and is located a distance away from the substantially planar back face of the container, which distance is less than the length of the graspable tab.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the retaining means comprises a pair of opposed tabs which are spaced away from and substantially parallel to that portion of the at least one substantially planar container thickness defining face against which the graspable tab is placed when it is folded forwardly from the substantially planar back face of the container. The distance between the opposed tabs is less than width of the flexible plastic tab. The first end of the plastic tab extends forwardly of the pair of opposed tabs.
In a structure as defined immediately above, the portion of the at least one substantially planar container thickness defining face against which the graspable tab is placed, is formed as a shelf or groove which has a width greater than the width of the flexible plastic tab.
Two representative prior art patents, each teaching flexible plastic tapes of the sort discussed above, and each belonging to 3-M Innovative Properties Company of St. Paul Minn., are noted below;
First there is U.S. Pat. No. 5,989,708 to Kreckel, issued Nov. 23, 1999. That patent teaches a removable adhesive tape which has a highly extensible and substantially elastic backing, and a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive. The backing has a high tensile strength and may be elongated or stretched by at least about 150 percent, with less than 50 percent of elastic recovery after being stretched. The adhesive is a normally tacky and pressure-sensitive adhesive, which is coated on at least one surface of the film backing. The adhesive is preferable highly extensible, and will not separate from the backing during stretching; and the adhesive has higher cohesion than adhesion to any suitable substrate. After it is applied to a substrate, the adhesive tape is firmly bonded to that substrate, but can be easily be removed without damaging the substrate by stretching the adhesive tape in the direction which is substantially parallel, and in any event not more than about 35 degrees to the surface of the substrate to which it has been applied.
The other patent is issued to Breis et al as U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,471, dated Dec. 14, 1999. A double-sided removable and stretchable adhesive tape is described, and is said to be for use in conventional applications including particularly the mounting or joining of an object to another surface. In this case, the timing of the debonding of both surfaces is controlled so that one adhesive surface releases before the other. This is achieved by use of a double-sided adhesive tape which has a stretchable backing layer, which is plastic or elastic, and which has a lower adhesion or non-adhesive portion of one adhesive surface, so that a corresponding greater adhesion adhesive portion on the other side of the tape remains more aggressively adhered to a surface during stretch removal. The portion of the one adhesive surface which is less adhesively adhered may then be completely released from the surface. There may be a non-adhesive portion which provides the removal tab and which, in all Figures of the drawings is shown to extend downwardly from an object being adhered to a surface, in a direction parallel to the surface to which the object is adhered.